Indy Eleven and NASL: what you need to know

Indy Eleven midfielder Kleberson with the ball against the Chicago Fire reserve team at the Boilermaker Soccer Complex, Tuesday, April 1, 2014, in West Lafayette. The Chicago Fire won the game 3-1.(Photo: Brent Drinkut/The Star)

The Indy Eleven play their initial regular-season game Saturday against the Carolina Railhawks at IUPUI's Carroll Stadium. The Eleven are one of 10 teams in the North American Soccer League, which is spread across the United States and Canada, and is in its fourth season. Three teams are scheduled to be added for the 2015 season.

Four parking lots along New York Street on the IUPUI campus will open at 4:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 and the game starts at 7:30.

Here are the answers to five questions about the Eleven and the NASL as pro soccer returns to the Circle City:

Is the NASL considered a minor- or a major-league operation?

Depends how you define that. By most measures, the NASL is the No. 2 pro soccer league in North America behind Major League Soccer and certainly isn't as high profile. It does not have a national television contract. (Games are available on the Internet, and the opener will be featured on ESPN3, and the Eleven has a local television deal with WNDY Ch. 23). Average attendance last year was 4,670 fans per game while MLS teams averaged more than 18,000.

But it is not a developmental league in the model of baseball's International League and the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A team for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Eleven is a self-sustaining operation in charge of signing its own players and controls its own budget. There is no salary cap, Eleven president Peter Wilt said. The NASL has made a few high-profile signings, including the Eleven's recent addition of Kleberson, a former Brazilian national that played for the 2002 World Cup champions.

"Our players are our players," said Wilt, formerly the president of MLS' Chicago Fire. "If we chose to transfer them (to other leagues), we will. But it's our own league. It's a professional league and we're looking to make it better."

How does the quality of play in the NASL compare to the English Premier League?

Again, that may be in the eye of the beholder. No one is suggesting it is on par with the Premier League. But Carolina beat two MLS teams while advancing the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals last year, the longstanding national tournament open to all U.S. professional teams.

"It's competitive," said Eleven forward Pedro Mendes, who had 12 goals and 33 matches for Atlanta last season. "It's good talent. We've got guys that have been in MLS, guys that have been all over the world in different places. We've got a World Cup champion over here."

Wilt said he's confident the Eleven can be successful while also maintaining some local ties. The team includes local players — Chris Estridge (Brownsburg), A.J. Corrado (Zionsville) and Dylan Mares (Zionsville) — while attracting others from around the world. Coach Juergen Sommer noted that many international leagues finish their seasons in May, meaning some players' contracts will be expiring, making them available.

"We'll continue looking and bringing guys in to accomplish our goal of building a competitive team," Sommer said.

What are the other franchises in the league and what is the schedule format?

The Eleven are joined by Carolina, New York, Tampa Bay, Atlanta Silverbacks, FC Edmonton, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Minnesota United FC, Ottawa Fury FC and San Antonio Scorpions. Jacksonville, Oklahoma City and Loudon County, Va. — a suburb of Washington — have been awarded expansion teams for future dates.

Each team plays 27 regular-season games through early November. The champions of each half and the two teams with the next-best overall records advance to the playoffs, with semifinal matches followed by a championship game. There will be a six-week break in June and July to avoid a conflict with the World Cup.

The Eleven has appealed to the state legislature for help building a new stadium. Does that mean it will eventually try to move into MLS?

Not necessarily, Wilt said.

"If we can get all these teams operating at a first-division standard, the league itself will get to that level," he said. "We want to be a team that any league in the world would look at as a worthy member."

But Larry DeGaris, an associate professor of sports marketing at the University of Indianapolis, suspects that is exactly what Eleven officials desire. DeGaris said MLS is looking to have franchises in geographic clusters after the success of the Portland and Seattle franchises in the Pacific Northwest. He thinks a cluster of current teams in Chicago, Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio along with expansion teams in Indianapolis and Minneapolis would be a good fit.

"They want an MLS team," said DeGaris, who thinks the Eleven will be a long-term success in Indianapolis. "I think they'll get it."

If so, there is little room for error. MLS has 19 current teams and would like to expand to 24. Orlando and a New York City team are scheduled to join next season. The league has awarded a franchise to Miami on the condition it develops a new stadium. Atlanta is expected to be announced as an expansion site later this month, which would mean 23 teams are accounted for.

Does the current NASL have any relationship with the North American Soccer League from the 1970s and attracted international stars like Pele?

Other than the name, no. League organizers adopted it as a tribute to the old NASL's legacy. It also gave it some name identification compared to the more established. Some of the league's teams carry the nicknames of their NASL forefathers, most notably the New York Cosmos and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Indianapolis never was home to a franchise in the old NASL.